Reagan Brightens Acid-rain Outlook

March 20, 1986|By John N. Maclean, Chicago Tribune.

WASHINGTON — President Reagan ended two days of talks with Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney Wednesday and endorsed a five-year, $5 billion program aimed at reducing acid rain, the major problem in U.S.-Canadian relations during this decade.

Mulroney welcomed Reagan`s endorsement and said it amounts to ``real movement and a real commitment by the United States administration on an issue which has bedeviled our relationship.`` Both leaders said problems remain in investigating the nature of acid rain and in getting the funding from Congress that Reagan promised.

A White House spokesman said the funding may come from a variety of sources, such as industry, and no immediate request will be made of Congress for additional funds. Mulroney said he expects Reagan to go to Capitol Hill for additional money by April.

Despite this apparent disagreement, Reagan went further even than officials had hinted recently by declaring that he supports the findings of special U.S. and Canadian envoys who came up with the $5 billion program. Reagan had been expected to endorse the substance of the report, but it was not clear whether he would also back the spending program.

The U.S.-Canadian commission was set up a year ago when the two leaders met in Ottawa. The commission report, issued in January, declares that air pollution, mainly from coal-fired power plants in the industrial Midwest, migrates to Canada, killing lakes and harming forests. Reagan declined to commit himself to the report`s findings when it was issued.

``I fully endorse the report,`` Reagan said after lunching with Mulroney. Mulroney labeled as ``silly`` criticism by some Canadian environmental groups that the $5 billion program will not cause sulfur oxide emissions to be reduced by as much as a ton. He said the program will help fund the installation of technology to burn coal more cleanly and thus reduce emissions which cause acid rain.

At the White House, spokesman Larry Speakes said the administration will implement a three-year, $800 million clean coal technology program voted last December by Congress despite White House objections.

The program involves matching federal and industry funds to build pilot projects to demonstrate at commercial scale cleaner ways to burn coal. The technology already exists, but high costs have kept it from being used.

Speakes said this program will amount to a down payment on the $5 billion program.

The program calls for the federal government to put up $100 million this year and $150 million for each of the next two years.

Asked if the administration would seek the additional funds right away to get spending up to the level proposed by special envoys, Speakes indicated it would not.

He said the $5 billion figure could be met in a number of ways, including increased spending by the utility and coal industries. These industries already have spent many billions of dollars for pollution control measures such as flue gas scrubbers, devices which can eliminate up to 90 percent of sulfur oxides but which can cost $200 million each.

Speakes said individual states would also be ``encouraged`` to undertake clean coal burning programs. Some states including Illinois already have such programs.